REDLAND City Council will decide on whether to cut the number of councillors from 10 to eight or six or abolish divisions all together after it gets a report on electorate boundaries in February.
It is still unknown if axing divisions or cutting the number of councillors will be put up for community consideration but the issue divided today’s full council meeting.
Some councillors were concerned that if divisions were abolished smaller communities and smaller issues would not be championed.
However, council Organisational Services general manager Nick Clarke said the boundaries needed to be redrawn to ensure a fairer distribution of the city’s projected 100,350 voters before the 2016 election.
Mr Clarke said the final decision on boundaries and the number of divisions rested with councillors, who would also need state approval.
An officer report found Redland City councillors had, on average, 14,744 voters to look after, less than councillors in Toowoomba, Cairns, Townsville, and Logan, where there were about 25,000 voters in an electorate.
The report claimed that with six divisions there would be 24,572 voters in each electorate and 18,430 if there were eight divisions.
Councillors also voted to ask the state government to allow chief executive Bill Lyon to manage the 2016 election and act as the Returning Officer.
Mr Clarke said that move would slash the cost of the election by at least $100,000 and anticipated a part-postal ballot to cost the city about $400,000.
He said costs skyrocketed from about $275,000 in 2004 when council last ran the election, to $650,000 in 2008 under the state government. In 2012, costs dropped to $475,000.
The meeting was also told a further $100,000 could be saved if the council decided to hold the ballot by postal vote, instead of at polling booths.
Officers said a postal vote for all ratepayers ensured convenience, cut informal votes, reduced election campaign costs and saved the environment by eliminating printed how-to-vote cards.
However, Division 7 councillor Murray Elliott’s call to ask the minister for a full postal ballot was rejected.
Councillors voted six-five against a full postal ballot and not to have the full postal vote on the city's six islands either.
The move will mean voters can still use postal voting as one option, with other options including voting on polling day.
The decision came after Mr Clarke warned councillors it was unlikely Local Government Minister David Crisafulli would approve a postal ballot for the entire city.